Noise-Induced Magnetic Field Saturation in Kinetic Simulations

Abstract

Monte Carlo methods are often employed to numerically integrate kinetic equations, such as the particle-in-cell method for the plasma kinetic equation, but these methods suffer from the introduction of counting noise to the solution. We report on a cautionary tale of counting noise modifying the nonlinear saturation of kinetic instabilities driven by unstable beams of plasma. We find a saturated magnetic field in under-resolved particle-in-cell simulations due to the sampling error in the current density. The noise-induced magnetic field is anomalous, as the magnetic field damps away in continuum kinetic and increased particle count particle-in-cell simulations. This modification of the saturated state has implications for a broad array of astrophysical phenomena beyond the simple plasma system considered here, and it stresses the care that must be taken when using particle methods for kinetic equations.

arXiv comment15 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• A Field-Particle Correlation Analysis of a Perpendicular Magnetized Collisionless Shock
• In Search of a Data Driven Symbolic Multi-Fluid 10-Moment Model Closure
• The role of noise in PIC and Vlasov simulations of the Buneman instability
• An Energy Conserving Vlasov Solver That Tolerates Coarse Velocity Space Resolutions: Simulation of MMS Reconnection Events
• An investigation of shock formation versus shock mitigation of colliding plasma jets
• Discontinuous Galerkin Representation of the Maxwell-Jüttner Distribution
• Attosecond dispersion as a diagnostics tool for solid-density laser-generated plasmas